ARLA/CLUSTER: Estará o radioanadorismo em crise no Reino Unido .?

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Are UK amateur radio licences really on the increase?

Ofcom have released the amateur radio licence statistics for September
2013 showing a further rise in numbers

The grand total of licences at the start of September was 81888 an
increase of 87 over the August figure.

The Ofcom website says
"The new "lifetime" licence will remain valid for as long as the
licence details remain correct or until such time as the licence is
either revoked by Ofcom or surrendered by the licensee. There is no
end date on the "lifetime" amateur radio licence but Ofcom will revoke
the licence unless the licence is either amended or validated at least
once every 5 years."

The first of these new licences were issued in 2006 but the licence
statistics appear to show that none yet been revoked due to the holder
failing to amended or validate it. Because of the impact of the
Olympics, Ofcom did make the initial licences run for six years
instead of five. This extention should have resulted in those licences
that were not validated dropping out of the statistics after December
2012.

Since 2006 possibly as many as 3,500 UK radio amateurs have died and
they would have been expected to drop out of the statistics, but month
after month the numbers that Ofcom report show a steady rise.

There is no way of telling how many amateurs have simply given up the
hobby in the past 7 years or how many amateurs there really are. The
rumour mill may suggest that fewer than 25,000 amateurs have renewed
their licence but the statistics do not tell us.

On March 14, 2013 a response to a Freedom of Information Request
stated that "Ofcom have not carried out another extension." [of the
licence], but it seems they haven't revoked any licences either.

Ofcom UK Amateur Radio Licence Statistics
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radiocommunication-licences/
amateur-radio/guidance-for-licensees/monthly-stats/

How to validate your licence
http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/remember-to-validate-your-licence.html

April - Have any UK Amateur Radio Licences expired ?
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2013/
have_any_uk_amateur_radio_licences_expired.htm